28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later is a 2007 British post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film, and sequel to the 2002 film 28 Days Later. The film was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and was released in the United Kingdom and in the United States on 11 May 2007. Plot The film opens with Don and his wife Alice in an English cottage sheltering from the Rage virus that has ravaged Great Britain. Together, with a variety of survivors they sit down to a quiet meal. A young boy can be heard shouting and banging the door from the other side in desperation. Against everyone's wishes and even his own, Don opens the door and lets the frightened child in, who reveals how he managed to escape the Infected. But this peace is short lived when one of the survivors is attacked while peeking through a gap in the boarded up house by the Infected, thus turning her and leading to an attempted attack on another survivor. Don kills her with a crowbar. Suddenly, the Infected barge in and the survivors flee. Everyone runs in different directions while Don tries to hold off several infected but not for long when he drops his crowbar and has no time to pick it up. Don runs up stairs to help his wife and tells her to leave the boy but Alice runs to the other side of the room to help the kid. Alice grabs the child while Don waits impaitently at the other end of the room. Alice is about to run with the boy to the other end of the room but the infected barge in and corner Alice and the child. Alice screams for help but the one of the Infected charges at Don and he is forced to slam the door shut and flee, leaving them to die. Don climbs out the window and escapes the infected in a dramatic running sequence through a large field. He sees Jacob (one of the survivors in the cottage)untying the boat at the docks near the houses. Don leaps into the boat just as Jacob finishes untying the it. Jacob attempts to jump into the boat but slips and falls into the water. Jacob attempts to climb on but the Infected quickly catch up and jump into the water and Jacob is pulled under. Seconds later Jacob re surfaces as another Infected and climbs halfway onto the boat. Don kicks Jacob off and slices him up with the motor engine as Don drives the boat away. Don has a small panic attack as he speeds the boat away and we see overview shots of the now quiet house. Titles appear, outlining the timeline from the outbreak of infection through the quarantine of Britain, the last of the infected dying of starvation, the arrival of American-led NATO troops, the planning of repopulating and finally 28 weeks later... Scarlett, a U.S. Army Medical Officer, watches a single plane land in London. Among the people that have arrived are teenager Tammy and her younger brother Andy. Everyone undergoes several health inspections, and Scarlett notices that Andy has heterochromia, a trait he inherited from his mother. Americans Doyle and Flynn are introduced also: Doyle a wisecracking sniper and Flynn, a helicopter pilot and family man away from his family. Andy and Tammy are moved into District 1, a fully-functional section of London city, located in the Docklands area known as the Isle of Dogs. The children are reunited with their father, who turns out to be Don from the beginning of the film. He explains at their new apartment that their mother was killed and that he could do nothing about it. Andy has a nightmare that night and claims that he is afraid that he will forget what his mum looks like. Later the next morning, the children decide to leave the safety area to return home to collect a picture of their mother. At the house, they discover that Alice is still alive and has been hiding in their attic in a traumatized state. Andy and Tammy are caught by the army and they bring Alice back as well. Scarlett does a blood test on Alice, which reveals that she is infected but is somehow immune to the virus. It is suggested that her genes repel the Rage virus' symptoms; however, she is still technically a carrier. Don finds out about his wife after seeing his children and makes his way to operating theatre where she is tied down unguarded, bypassing locked doors and other security features with the use of his all-access key card. He begs for forgiveness and she accepts. While exchanging a kiss, Don becomes infected. He violently kills her by sticking his thumbs into her eyes in his rage and breaks out of the area and into District 1, quickly attacking soldiers within proximity. A code red is ordered when it becomes clear that the virus is active again. Scarlett rescues Tammy and Andy from containment and they flee together, though Andy becomes separated in the chaos. British civilians, including Andy, are moved underground but Don breaks in and attacks them, causing mass panic and hundreds more are infected in the chaos. The citizens manage to break out of the security sector and run through the sreets with hundreds of infected chasing them. Doyle is given the order to take out as many of the infected as possible, but his orders are soon changed and he is told to kill anybody and everybody - including the uninfected, which shocks him. Andy escapes the crowd into a safe area with others who have not been infected, where he is reunited with Tammy and Scarlett. It is revealed that Doyle has left his sniping post and is joining the group of survivors on the ground to help get Andy and Tammy to safety. He tells them he will lead them to safety. While attempting to escape, they find themselves being shot at by the American soldiers and fighting against the infected. Flynn contacts Doyle and tells him that in four minutes the district will be firebombed and that they need to escape. They do so, hiding in a tunnel, dodging the attack as a section of London is destroyed disintegrating Infected and civilians alike. Later, in an abandoned park, Scarlett informs Doyle that the key to curing infection is in the children and they agree that they must do what they can to deliver them safely. Flynn arrives to pick Doyle up and only wishes to take Doyle and no one else, refusing to negotiate. A large group of the infected who are docking on the horizon give chase. After slaughtering many of the infected with the helicopter blades, Flynn flies away, assigning Wembley Stadium as the new pick-up point and telling Doyle to meet him alone. Surviving infected give chase and the group run back to the city and are cornered by chemical gasses and Infected. They climb into a car to escape the chemical gases being pumped into the streets and wait in the car until all of the infected are killed. They see several Army troops in oxygen masks with napalm flame-throwers approaching. The car won't start and so Doyle decides to get out and jump start it. Doyle is then killed when he is lit on fire after successfully staring the car. Scarlett drives the car away but crashes the car soon after and the remaining trio enter the London Underground. Using the night vision scope on Doyle's sniper rifle, Scarlett guides them through the underground tunnels. The group then get separated in the darkness. Scarlett attempts to find Andy and Tammy but is attacked and brutally beaten to death by an infected who is revealed to be Don, who continues to attack his own son and bites him. Tammy is forced to kill her infected father with Doyle's sniper rifle. Andy, though bitten, remains without symptoms like his mother. The two continue to escape and walk through the remains of London and eventually are picked up by Flynn at Wembley Stadium. Flynn flies them to safety as they pass the burning ruins of District 1 and eventually over the White Cliffs of Dover and onto France. 28 days later, the remains of the helicopter seen and someone is calling out for help in French accented English in the Helicopter radio. In the last scene, the Infected are seen rushing through a subway tunnel then through the Palais de Chaillot towards the Eiffel Tower. Cast * Robert Carlyle as Don * Jeremy Renner as Sergeant Doyle * Rose Byrne as Major Scarlett Ross * Idris Elba as Brigadier General Stone * Catherine McCormack as Alice * Harold Perrineau as Flynn * Imogen Poots as Tammy * Mackintosh Muggleton as Andy * Shahid Ahmed as Jacob * Emily Beecham as Karen * Garfield Morgan as Geoff * Meghan Popiel as Soldier DLR Fruit * Philip Scott as Jason * Amanda Walker as Sally Production In March 2005, 28 Days Later's director, Danny Boyle, said in an interview that he would not direct the sequel, but he would serve as executive producer. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was instead attached to direct 28 Weeks Later. On 1 September, 2006, the studio announced that principal photography for 28 Weeks Later began in London. On 3 December, 2006, second unit filming finished near the IMAX cinema in London. Casting details 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle said in March 2005 that the sequel would feature a new cast, since previous cast members Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris were occupied with their own projects. On 23 August 2006, Jeremy Renner was announced to portray Sgt. Doyle, one of the principal characters for 28 Weeks Later. On 31 August 2006, Harold Perrineau was announced to portray a US Special Forces pilot for the film. Biohazard warning In Friday 13 April, 2007, 28 days before the release of the film in UK cinemas, a huge biohazard warning sign was projected against the White Cliffs of Dover. The sign contained the international biological hazard symbol, as well as stating that Britain was "contaminated, keep out!" Graphic novel In July 2006, Fox Atomic Comics and publisher HarperCollins announced that they were publishing a graphic novel titled 28 Days Later: The Aftermath in early 2007 to bridge the gap between 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. Viral advertising Removable graffiti was sprayed in locations around London featuring the web address 'ragevirus.com'. However, the web address was found to be unregistered and quickly snapped up by a b3ta reader. The advertising agency who made the mistake agreed to purchase the rights to the domain for an undisclosed but significant sum.B3ta Newsletter 274 Release Prior to the film's opening the MPAA gave 28 Weeks Later an R for strong violence and gore, language and some nudity. The film has been rated 18 in the UK. The film has opened in 2,000 cinemas across the United States. Reception 28 Weeks Later garnered generally positive reviews. The film has been praised for being "exciting, action-packed and superbly directed thriller that more than lives up to the original film" and "28 Weeks Later is brutal and almost exhaustingly terrifying. It is also bracingly smart, both in its ideas and in its techniques". The film has generated a rating of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes with 98 positive reviews and 42 negative reviews. The film made $9.8 million in its opening weekend, coming in second place at the box-office, well behind Spider-Man 3. As of June 18, 2007 the film has grossed $28,058,024 in the USA and $20,163,407 in other foreign countries and the UK bringing the worldwide total to $48,221,431. Reviewers have commented on parallels between the film's plot and the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq and the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.Film review by CNNFilm review by Times OnlineFilm review by Guardian UnlimitedComment is free: What zombies say about IraqIGN: 28 Weeks Later Review28 Weeks Later... Review from Channel 4 Film Sequel In March 2007, plans were announced by Danny Boyle to create a "third chapter" of the film franchise, which may be given the title 28 Months Later, thus creating a trilogy. The action will presumably take place in France, picking up where the second film left off (ref: L'écran Fantastique, a French magazine about horror and fantasy films). External links *[http://www.foxinternational.com/28weekslater/ Official Site] *''28 Weeks Later...'' *[http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_atomic/28weekslater/ 28 Weeks Later Trailer] at Apple.com *[http://www.foxatomic.com/#movie:TitleId=7 28 Weeks Later] at FoxAtomic.com Official Movie Website *Production photos *2007 SuicideGirls interview with 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo by Daniel Robert Epstein References Category:Zombie films Category:Films